A wellbore fluid having an oleaginous phase and an additive for increasing
the density of the wellbore fluid. The additive comprises solid colloidal
particles coated with a dispersant coated onto the colloidal particle
during the comminution process of forming the particles. Exemplary
starting materials for the colloidal particles include commonly known
weighting agents including barite, calcium carbonate, dolomite, ilmenite,
hematite or other iron ores, olivine, siderite, and strontium sulfate as
well as mixture and combinations of these and other similar weighting
materials. The dispersant in one illustrative embodiment, is selected
from carboxylic acids of molecular weight of at least 150 Daltons.
Alternatively, the dispersant coating may be made of compounds including
oleic acid, polybasic fatty acids, alkylbenzene sulfonic acids, alkane
sulfonic acids, linear alpha-olefin sulfonic acid or the alkaline earth
metal salts of any of the above acids, and phospholipids as well as
mixtures and combinations of these compounds. In another illustrative
embodiment the dispersant is a polyacrylate ester. The illustrative
polymeric dispersant should have an average molecular weight from about
10,000 Daltons to about 200,000 Daltons.